Train Station Melodies （発車メロディ）

 

Seeing back on Tuesday that I put up the congratulatory posting on a couple of Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）songs getting used as train station melodies at Kiyose Station, I've decided to put some more melodies into KKP. I've known for a long time that pop songs have been used among the vast network of stations across Japan but this is the first time that I'm putting up such an article here on the blog. As such, the following are only a few of such melodies.

Puffy -- Nagisa ni Matsuwaru Et Cetera （渚にまつわるエトセトラ）

This is only played at Kinosaki Onsen Station on the San'in Main Line in Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture during the winter because the area is known for its haul of tasty crab, and the Puffy trademark tune has the lyric of "Let's go and have some crab!".

Iruka/Kaguyahime -- Nagori Yuki (なごり雪）

The evergreen folk song by both Iruka（イルカ）and the band Kaguyahime（かぐや姫）can be heard at Tsukumi Station on the Nippou Main Line in Tsukumi City, Oita Prefecture. According to an archived article, songwriter Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）had based the song on this particular station itself.

Kyu Sakamoto -- Ue wo Muite Arukou (上を向いて歩こう)

C'mon...there was no way that this song was NOT going to be included as a train station melody somewhere in Japan. In fact, it's used at a number of stations...one being Keikyu Kawasaki Station on the Keikyu Main Line in Kawasaki City west of Tokyo. Kawasaki City is special, though, because Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）was born in the city.

Masafumi Akikawa -- Sen no Kaze ni Natte （千の風になって）

Up at Onuma Koen Station on the Hakodate Main Line in the town of Nanae, Hokkaido, this tear-worthy ballad plays for about ten minutes a shot in various arrangements while folks wait for the train. Apparently, the setting in the song was the town itself.

Isao Sasaki -- The Theme from Space Cruiser Yamato (宇宙戦艦ヤマト）

One of anime's greatest theme songs also resides at Kure Station on the Kure Line in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture. The real-life battleship Yamato was built at the former Kure Naval Arsenal which is one reason for the theme being used at the station. The other reason is that the late creator of "Uchuu Senkan Yamato", Leiji Matsumoto（松本零士）, was the Director Emeritus of the Yamato Museum located near the station.

Kami Takada Shonen Gasshodan/Zone -- Theme from Tetsuwan Atomu （鉄腕アトムのテーマ）

Of course, I have to finish off with the one train station melody that I used to hear all the time while I was living in the Tokyo area. I used to hear the "Astro Boy" theme when I was making the transfer from the JR Yamanote Line loop to the Tozai Line at Takadanobaba Station to head on back to Chiba Prefecture. 

So, for any of you who have lived in Japan, are there any train station melodies that were part of your lives?

Rimi Natsukawa/Masafumi Akikawa -- Asu to Iu Hi ga（あすという日が）

 

On Tuesday, I saw a couple of singers that I hadn't seen in quite a while on NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）. There was singer Rimi Natsukawa（夏川りみ）known for "Nada Soso" (涙そうそう) and tenor Masafumi Akikawa（秋川雅史）who became famous for "Sen no Kaze ni Natte"（千の風になって）. The two of them along with Kazufumi Miyazawa（宮沢和史）of The BOOM sang a song of hope titled "Asu to Iu Hi ga" (The Day Known as Tomorrow), and considering that the last two entries tonight also involved songs of hope and optimism, I thought that I would finish things up tonight with this one.

The story behind "Asu to Iu Hi ga" started in 2006 when composer Satoshi Yagisawa（八木澤教司）and poet Sakurako Yamamoto（山本瓔子）created the song for an Osaka-based junior high school to perform at the 30th All Japan Chorus Education Study Group National Convention in Osaka itself. However, it took on special meaning in 2011 due to the Tohoku Earthquake on March 11th when the Fukushima Vocal Ensemble Competition that had been slated to be held on the following 19th was cancelled. One of the participating groups, Hachiken Junior High School, performed "Asu to Iu Hi ga" as a musical prayer for recovery.

Later that year, Natsukawa released a single version of "Asu to Iu Hi ga" on September 21st as this very gentle pop song backed by guitar, strings and piano. Depending on your feelings, you may want to have some tissue nearby.

On the same day, Akikawa also released his version of the song and my advice on Kleenex also holds here as well. His take has more of a classical orchestral arrangement. Not surprisingly, both him and Natsukawa appeared on the Kohaku Utagassen at the end of 2011 to perform a duet of "Asu to Iu Hi ga".

An officially recorded duet was a track on Akikawa's BEST compilation released in February 2014.

Hisao Ito -- Iyomante no Yoru（イヨマンテの夜）

 

In recent years, I've been made aware of this particular kayo titled "Iyomante no Yoru" (The Night of the Sendoff Ceremony) sung by enka veteran Takashi Hosokawa（細川たかし）. But this isn't an enka song. When I first heard Hosokawa perform it a few years ago, he didn't particularly sing it; it was actually more of a bellowing of what sounded like an incantation for something to happen at that ceremony of the title. It was raw, operatic and the rhythm felt like part of a soundtrack from an old 1940s adventure in Africa. What the heck was "Iyomante no Yoru"?

Well, we have to go all the way back to an old NHK radio drama called "Kane no Naru Oka"（鐘の鳴る丘...The Hill on Which the Bell Tolls） which had been broadcast between the summer of 1947 to the end of 1950. A story by playwright and lyricist Kazuo Kikuta（菊田一夫）, the plot featured a demobilized soldier who ends up living in a communal facility in a mountain village on a hill and becomes well acquainted with some war orphans.

Famed composer Yuuji Koseki（古関裕而）, who had worked with Kikuta before to create "Francesca no Kane"（フランチェスカの鐘）in 1948, came up with "Iyomante no Yoru" as the theme representing the woodsmen in the drama as he improvised something while performing on a Hammond organ. It was originally meant to be performed with just the "Ahhhhh..." bellowing, but singer Hisao Ito（伊藤久男）, who had recorded Koseki's iconic "Eikan wa Kimi ni Kagayaku"（栄冠は君に輝く ）, occasionally listened to "Kane no Naru Oka" and fell in love with "Iyomante no Yoru".

Both Kikuta and Koseki eventually got together with Ito and came up with the revised "Iyomante no Yoru". The lyricist had some experience with Ainu songs so he adapted some of the language of this East Asian ethnic group native to Hokkaido and added it to the lyrics for the song. In fact, the word iyomante is Ainu for a sendoff ceremony. A 45" single was sold in stores as of January 1950.

However, according to the J-Wiki article on "Iyomante no Yoru", despite the Ainu influence in the language, it was found that with the arrangements which included an African tom-tom drum and the fact that in spite of the title hinting at a night ceremony, any actual sendoff ceremonies in Ainu culture were almost always performed in the daytime, there were opinions raised that the song really didn't musically reflect the Ainu.

Another interesting point of trivia found in the J-Wiki article is that the NHK singing program "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）during the period of 1950-1952 found almost all of the male contestants asking to sing "Iyomante no Yoru" which put the judges in a bit of a tizzy. During the show in modern times, I've occasionally seen a few guys come up to perform the song, even high school boys.

But it hasn't been just the amateurs tackling the song. A number of singers have covered it, too, including tenor Masafumi Akikawa（秋川雅史）who gained national fame for his rendition of "Sen no Kaze ni Natte"（千の風になって）in 2006, as well as enka singer Aya Shimazu（島津亜矢）. I think with "Iyomante no Yoru", there is probably that "muscularity" in there that has attracted the kayo singers like a workout machine attracting the gym athletes.

Masafumi Akikawa -- Sen no Kaze ni Natte （千の風になって）

Realizing that every year has its share of celebrities leaving this mortal coil, I've just been finding that 2016 has been especially poignant in that category. A few days ago, actor/comedian Gene Wilder passed away from complications from Alzheimer's disease at the age of 83. According to his bio on Wikipedia, he had already been diagnosed some 3 years prior but kept the news secret "....so as not to sadden his younger fans."

I tweeted that I knew his roles in the 1970s as Dr. Frankenstein in "Young Frankenstein" and The Waco Kid in "Blazing Saddles" plus his role as accountant George Caldwell in the comedy-thriller "Silver Streak" (which was partially filmed in Toronto). However, Wilder, to me, will always be the first Willy Wonka in "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory". There was a certain amount of zaniness in his roles but seeing the actor for the first time in that movie, my first and eternal impression of him was as the sly and deceptively wise maestro with that subtle sense of humour. In that purple outfit, he would have made a pretty good Doctor Who, and I will always remember him singing the true theme for the movie "Pure Imagination".

Wilder's decision not to inform the public about his diagnosis was the final trigger for me to put up a song that has gone in the Japanese music history books as one of the most interesting entries to become the No. 1 song of the year in Oricon. For the annual Top 10 charts in 2006 and 2008, the top spots were occupied by the fresh-faced boy bands, KAT-TUN and Arashi respectively with their high-energy hits. But in between those two years in 2007, there was an anomaly of sorts when this unlikely throat-lumping classical ballad based on a 1932 poem created by an American became the top tune for that year.

That would be "Sen no Kaze ni Natte" (Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep) performed by tenor Masafumi Akikawa（秋川雅史）. I don't remember the circumstances which launched this song into history. What I do remember is how for several months "Sen no Kaze ni Natte" became this earworm with my impression being that folks stopped whatever they were doing to listen intently. Heck, even the comedians (and I) got into this thing to imitate Akikawa's dulcet tones and sing "Watashi no..." during the year of its fame.

Akikawa was born in 1967 in Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku where he started to learn the piano and violin at the age of 4. Years later, he studied at the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo following which he trained for 4 years in Parma, Italy. In 1998, he earned the top spot in a canzone competition and then won Best Vocal Performance at the Japan Classical Music Competition before officially debuting as a tenor singer in 2001.

His most famous song which was his debut single was released in May 2006. Supposedly it had a humble climb to the top but all that changed when Akikawa was invited to perform on the Kohaku Utagassen that year. As of December 27 2006, "Sen no Kaze ni Natte" was at the No. 31 position on the Oricon weeklies. But with Takuya Kimura（木村拓哉）of SMAP reciting the translated version of the original poem and then the tenor wowing the audience, it took almost another month but it finally hit No. 1. It then proceeded to become the best-selling single for the first half of 2007 before taking the full crown for the whole year, selling more than a million copies.

I think one key to its amazing success is because of that original poem. For some reason, the original lyricist was listed as "fushou"（不詳）or "unknown" on the TV screen although according to Wikipedia, the authorship was finally confirmed in 1998 by newspaper columnist Abigail Van Buren (aka Dear Abby) with the accolades being given to American housewife and florist Mary Elizabeth Frye who had written "Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep" in 1932. The Japanese lyrics and music were provided by songwriter and photographer Man Arai（新井満）.

The poem's protagonist who has already gone to the spirit world encourages his still-mortal loved ones to not cry at his grave but accept that he has taken on new forms in the surrounding nature. Therefore, he isn't really dead at all. For many of the Japanese who just love a good cry when a character in a movie or TV drama dies beautifully, "Sen no Kaze ni Natte" was just the tonic. Akikawa's vocals, those words and the solemn but hopeful arrangement did the trick.

The popularity of "Sen no Kaze ni Natte" continued on into 2008 as it finished the year as the 65th-ranked single. And Akikawa appeared on the 2007 and 2008 Kohaku Utagassen to perform his magnum opus. Just recently, he showed up on an episode of NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）to sing the song which I hadn't heard in some years actually. But even in the latter part of his initial fame about a decade ago, he had started to perform that bit where he would hold one of his last notes for several seconds, and he did that again on the "Uta Kon" show.  Good ol' showmanship.

Anyways, I hope Wilder is now enjoying the company of his wife again, the late comedienne Gilda Radner.